Taglines: The truth made her a target.
In New Orleans, Alicia West (Naomie Harris) is out for a jog when she is stopped by two cops. They harass her and think she is a suspect they have been looking for until they see she is also an officer. One of the cops apologizes, but Alicia (a black woman) is used to this type of treatment by racist white cops. She continues her run and stops to visit her mother’s tomb.
Alicia begins her day at work with her partner, Kevin Jennings (Reid Scott). They drive around Kingston, which was Alicia’s old neighborhood before she left to join the army. They pull over into a convenience store that had been robbed the day before (the police just “didn’t” get the call), and Alicia talks to a young boy, Jamal. His mother, Missy (Nafessa Williams), sends him away, as she used to be friends with Alicia but hasn’t taken kindly to her having joined the police force. She is antagonized by a gang member until he sees Kevin and walks away. The officers then go into the shop, owned by Missy’s brother Mouse (Tyrese Gibson), who is also rather cold toward Alicia because of her new life. Regardless, he lets the officers take what they want for free.
Alicia is assigned to ride with veteran officer Deacon Brown (James Moses Black). They ride to an altercation at a nightclub. As Alicia attempts to detain one subject, Brown catches another one attempting to murder Alicia. He grabs and pins him to the car before pulling his own gun on him. Alicia tries to diffuse the situation until Brown shows her the suspect’s gun. After taking him into custody, Alicia and Brown sit for coffee, and he tells her that the people in that neighborhood won’t have her back just because she’s black, and view her as more of an enemy because she’s a cop.
The next day, Brown takes Alicia outside a warehouse but orders her to stay in the car. She gets out when she spots what appears to be a drug deal, but the buyer runs away. Alicia then hears a gunshot from inside the warehouse. She goes in to find Brown with narcotics detectives Terry Malone (Frank Grillo) and Smitty (Beau Knapp). They are interrogating a young man named Zero (John Charles II) and two other dealers. He pleads with Malone and says that they will silence any word of their corruption, but Malone executes all three men.
Alicia witnesses the act, and it is caught on her body cam. The men spot her, and Brown tries to keep things together before Smitty shoots at Alicia and sends her crashing through the floor. Realizing her body cam will incriminate them, the men rush to find her, but Alicia has already run, injured from a gunshot. The men see that she dropped her gun and is running around unarmed. They proceed to chase her through the streets. When she attempts to contact dispatch, Malone tells the operator that Alicia is just a rookie who got spooked during a drug bust.
Alicia comes across Officer Doyle (Nelson Bonilla), who appears to try and help her, but she overhears on her radio from Doyle’s partner that they are working with Malone. Alicia runs away again and goes around the neighborhood trying to get help, but true to Brown’s words, not a single person dares to help her. Alicia continues to run until she makes it into Mouse’s shop. He finds her and attempts to get her out by calling the cops. Alicia hides as Doyle and his partner get there. Doyle harasses Mouse and intimidates him with his gun. Doyle’s partner runs his license and sees Mouse’s priors, but he doesn’t report it to Doyle and they let him go. Mouse is visibly shaken up from the encounter. He agrees to help Alicia.
Black and Blue is a 2019 American action thriller film directed by Deon Taylor from a screenplay by Peter A. Dowling. The film stars Naomie Harris, Tyrese Gibson, Frank Grillo, Mike Colter, Reid Scott, and Beau Knapp, and follows a rookie police officer who goes on the run after she witnesses a murder. The film had its world premiere at the Urbanworld Film Festival on September 21, 2019 and was released in North America on October 25, 2019, by Screen Gems.
Black and Blue (2019)
Directed by: Deon Taylor
Starring: Naomie Harris, Tyrese Gibson, Mike Colter, Reid Scott, Beau Knapp, Frank Grillo, Mike Colter, Nafessa Williams, Michael Papajohn, Deneen Tyler, Rebecca Chulew, Frankie Smith
Screenplay by: Peter A. Dowling
Production Design by: Frank Zito
Cinematography by: Dante Spinotti
Film Editing by: Peck Prior
Costume Design by: Lauren Bott
Set Decoration by: Bradford Johnson
Art Direction by: Mark A. Terry
Music by: Geoff Zanelli
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Sony ScreenGems
Release Date: October 25, 2019
Visits: 51
